Stakeholders workshop in Pays de la Loire on 21st of October of 2021

On 21st of October of 2021 took place the first regional stakeholders workshop in Pays de la Loire. The workshop was hosted by ESA d’Angers, an agronomic engineer school based in Angers.

17 participants representing a variety of actors attended the workshop. Among them were agronomic and/or engineer schools and scientists, agricultural cooperatives (who are sometimes fertiliser distributors), federations of cooperatives, technical institutes, associations, regional and environmental institutions, one manufacturer of potting soils and a competitiveness cluster.

Introduction to participants

The participants were asked to position themselves with a post-it on an arrow on a poster representing the bio-based fertiliser chain from upstream (production of fruit and vegetable biowaste) to downstream production of bio-based fertilisers. Some could position more than one post-it (waste producer, fertiliser distributor, fertiliser user…) and they were asked to explain their motivations to attend to the regional workshop.

Introduction to RUSTICA project

The participants were introduced to RUSTICA project through the RUSTICA project video and a presentation.

Common goal definition

The participants were asked to write individually on post-its what would be for them the ideal results of RUSTICA project. Then, there was a discussion on what could be possible within the boundaries of the RUSTICA project and the results were clustered using axes (priority and delay). 

Validation regional market analysis

A fact sheet was handed out to the participants and it was presented. They were asked to read it and note their remarks and questions. Afterwards, in a plenary session, all the  remarks/interrogations/additions were discussed.

Group exercises

The group was divided in two half groups to get input (a) on RBBF blend and (b) on the regional stakeholders map. In one group were used posters to make the participants work together and in another, a stakeholders map was used to complete it.

 End of the workshop

The workshop ended at about 16.30 and the stakeholders were satisfied to discover RUSTICA project in detail and they were able to share their points of view freely during this workshop. They are waiting for more detailed information in future workshops.